Red Onion Restaurants May Reopen With New Owners

The Red Onion restaurant chain has closed its 10 remaining locations, but the company's trustee said Tuesday that branches of the chain may soon reopen under individual owners.

The remaining branches were shut down Monday, and 900 employees were laid off after a deal fell through to sell the chain's parent company, International Onion Inc. of West Covina, said Jeffrey Coyne, the bankruptcy trustee.

Rather than find a new buyer for the faltering chain of Mexican restaurants and nightclubs, Coyne said he plans to sell most of the closed branches to individual owners by Nov. 1.

The 10 branches closed Monday are in Long Beach, Marina del Rey, Orange, Redondo Beach, Riverside, Santa Ana, Thousand Oaks, Westchester, West Covina and Woodland Hills. Earlier this year, the company shut down branches in Huntington Beach, Lakewood and San Diego.

As of Tuesday, three new operators had been found for sites in Redondo Beach, Riverside and Westchester, Coyne said. The restaurants could reopen within coming weeks, he said, and some of the employees who lost their jobs could be hired by the new owners.